With help from Stephanie Beasley
Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Transportation is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Transportation subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. Learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, at politicopro.com.
— A transportation advocacy group says transportation funding shouldn’t increase until Congress fixes a “flawed system.”
— The head of Transurban, which operates express toll lanes in Virginia, offers a defense of congestion pricing, an infrastructure solution some in Congress look down on.
— Safety investigators are combing through the wreckage of a vintage B-17 bomber which crashed at a Connecticut airport this week.
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NOT SOMETHING YOU SEE EVERY DAY: Transportation for America has decided it doesn’t want the federal government to boost spending on transportation, at least within the current system. The group said Thursday that it’s scrapped “provide real funding” from its core principles. “T4America has concluded that more money devoted to this same flawed system will just do more damage,” said executive director Beth Osborne. The coalition, part of Smart Growth America, is launching a new policy platform on Monday, which will “set some measurable, concrete goals about repair — the number of roads in good condition and repair for structurally deficient bridges — and make safety an overriding concern instead of the perpetual number two thing,” our Tanya Snyder reports.
A DEFENSE OF CONGESTION PRICING: A few weeks ago at a House hearing on congestion pricing, lawmakers were pretty roundly “meh” about the concept, citing high prices seen on tolled highway lanes in places like Virginia and Georgia. “You can’t just price people off the road,” said House Transportation chairman Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). We covered the issue a bit more in that day’s newsletter, as well.
To get the other side of the argument, MT talked to Jennifer Aument, North America president for Transurban, the company operating the 495 and 95 Express Lanes in Virginia. She came armed with data: “80 percent of our customers spend less than $20 a month,” Aument said. People use the express option when they really need it, Aument argues. The most frequent customers are young working families, driving Hondas, Toyotas, Fords and Chevy’s — not Lexuses or “chauffeured limousine lanes,” as DeFazio put it. The $20 or $40 toll prices cited by politicians and frequently repeated in news reports? “Those are headline grabbing numbers that are not typical of the average customer experience,” said Aument.
And the company argues that it’s delivering for Virginia’s policy goals: Bus trips have increased 65% since the express lanes on 495 opened in 2012, and carpooling has jumped nearly fivefold.
Transurban has some asks at the federal level. It would love to see Congress open up the ability to toll interstate highways, as well as changes to the TIFIA program. “TIFIA has evolved over the years to a discussion around layering risk protections for taxpayers … but the pendulum has, in our view, swung too far,” Aument said, arguing that the loan program should be measured on its “ability to really fuel and generate the development and construction of new infrastructure.”
NTSB PROBING PLANE CRASH WHICH KILLED SEVEN: NTSB’s investigation into a vintage B-17 crash at Bradley Airport in Connecticut, which killed seven people and injured several others, is continuing. The plane struck equipment in front of the runway and hit a deicing facility, said NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy at a briefing Thursday evening. Investigators are starting to recover and document the wreckage, and have been mapping the plane’s path with a drone. Air traffic control transmissions suggest that the pilot indicated an issue with one of the engines, Homendy said.
The accident has raised questions about the safety of vintage aircraft. Homendy said that the specific plane which crashed was involved in one recorded accident in 1987, and that the agency has investigated 21 accidents involving WWII era bombers since it started keeping a database, resulting in 23 deaths and one injury. “Vintage planes must be properly maintained & flown— & the NTSB must tell us whether this tragedy could have been prevented,” said Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal on Twitter.
LET’S WORK THIS OUT: The airline pilots union ALPA wants the U.S. and the International Civil Aviation Organization to work out their beef after a report earlier this week saying that the U.S. is refusing to pay its dues to the UN civil aviation body. “It is crucial that ICAO be able to continue important policy discussions and decisions in order to maintain and improve the level of safety around the globe,” the pilot union said. “ALPA encourages the Administration and ICAO to resolve their issues quickly as many of ICAO’s actions directly impact the airline piloting profession.” More for Pros from our Brianna Gurciullo.
ICYMI: In the flurry of Boeing stories which have popped up this week (like every week for the last year), you may have missed this interesting piece from the Seattle Times published Wednesday night. The Times writes that in 2014, as it was working on getting the 737 MAX certified, Boeing convinced the FAA to relax the safety standards for the plane’s cockpit alerts that would let pilots know of problems during a flight. “Seeking an exception, Boeing relied on a special FAA rule to successfully argue that full compliance with the latest federal requirements would be ‘impractical’ for the MAX and would cost too much,” the story reads, citing documents and an anonymous safety engineer.
The context: Cockpit alert systems have since been flagged as a crucial element in the two recent MAX crashes by the NTSB, which issued recommendations to the FAA last week relating to how pilots respond to alerts.
TIME FOR A CHANGE: The GAO released a new report Thursday with recommendations for how TSA can improve how it works with the airline industry to roll out security changes that affect last-point-of-departure airports. According to the report, six air carriers and two industry associations told GAO that they felt left out of TSA’s review process for security directives. That has resulted in “revised directives that are vague or difficult to implement,” which contributed to “TSA officials offering different interpretations of aircraft cabin search requirements,” they said. The report was required under the TSA Modernization Act enacted last year.
Flashback: In 2017, European officials demanded a meeting with DHS after raising concerns that the department was acting unilaterally when it threatened to expand its ban on large carry-on electronics, then only applied to 10 Middle Eastern and African airports, to other airports unless they adopted new security measures. Airports also had to press DHS for details.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: DOT”s inspector general is launching a new audit of the FAA”s long-delayed NextGen air traffic control modernization efforts. “Given concerns over the progress and benefits of NextGen, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 mandated that our office study the potential impacts of a significantly delayed, diminished, or completely failed delivery of FAA’s NextGen initiative,” the IG said.
MAILBAG: The Senate Democrat pair of Ed Markey (D-Mass) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) want Frances Smith off the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee, arguing that the Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow is not a “legitimate consumer advocate” and that she has a “predisposition to oppose efforts to improve or expand DOT’s aviation consumer protection programs.” MT readers will remember that consumer advocacy groups have pushed for Smith’s ouster from the committee, while CEI has shot back in defense.
Kimberly Howell, previously deputy inspector general for WMATA, will be inspector general for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
— “Europe’s creaking railways can’t carry the climate load.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Silicon Valley pioneered self-driving cars. But some of its tech-savvy residents don’t want them tested in their neighborhoods.” Washington Post.
— “Chicago’s scooter pilot program is ending soon, what’s next?.” Curbed Chicago.
— “Senators say Amazon’s response to questions on driver safety is disappointing.” Buzzfeed.
— “Climate language deleted from car rules document.” E&E News.
— “Uber’s helicopter trips to JFK International Airport are now open to all customers.” The Verge.
DOT appropriations run out in 49 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,458 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 363 days.
